CD Projekt Red hasn't forgotten about its enigmatic new IP Hadar amid all the clamoring over The Witcher 4. The developer confirms during its 2026 earnings conference on September 2 that the covert project originally revealed in 2022 is comfortably in pre-production.
"Hadar is still in the concept phase," CD Projekt Red vice president of investor relations Karolina Gnaś tells investors. This is basically a repeat of what we heard during another CD Projekt Red earnings conference earlier this year in March, when joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said devs had "established the foundations of this entirely new IP," and they were ready to start prototyping.
Gnaś now shares that the Hadar team includes "over 30 people," and CD Projekt Red hopes "to hire more, up to 50 developers by the end of this year." In comparison, The Witcher 4 has almost 500 people carefully tending its fire ahead of its targeted 2028 release date.
So it sounds like Hadar development is gliding cleanly along, since CD Projekt Red is still planning on expanding its team after posting job ads this summer looking for help with "an emotional, open-world experience."
But Hadar is certainly not CD Projekt Red's priority right now – not with the big shadow of The Witcher 4 gulping up everything.
"Right now," Gnaś continues to say about Hadar, "the team is mostly focused on testing different approaches, ideas, and, you know, prototyping some gameplay element, and this is it."
I imagine Hadar will release much later than The Witcher 4, surpassing six years since its reveal, especially as CD Projekt Red tends to favor extended release cycles. I mean, it's launching The Witcher 3 DLC over 10 years after the base game came out. Patience is necessary here.
